Notes on the Geography of Israel: Jaffa

The hazy view from Jaffa west toward Andromeda's Rock. Through the 19th century, this was the very rough port of Palestine, with landings by lighter--and with luggage periodically lost in the brine.

Old Jaffa seen from a breakwater. The city was compact and originally confined to a small hill rising from the coastal plain. After 1948, the old city was deserted but later transformed into an artist's colony. It's a common practice in Israel, where old Palestinian buildings offer architectural character hard to find in resolutely modern Israeli designs.

A stairway in the old city. The protruding I-beams are a relic of the British era, when they were introduced along with concrete. Economical for a time, they rust out long before stone buildings fail.

The stone is brought down from the hills south of Jerusalem.

In a land without much wood, masons become expert at arches and domes.

Just inland from Old Jaffa there's a Turkish clock tower much like the one in Akko and the one formerly at the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem. The sultan in Istanbul had a thing for clocks, which makes you wonder if he was punctual himself.

The wave of modernization symbolized so well by clocks shows up in other things, too, like this girls' school in Jaffa. It's just across the street from a French hospital, which, come to think of it, is another expression of the cultural tide.